Beef dry curry (Burmese style)

Wondering about something exotic to make with all your beef?

This recipe takes about an hour to prepare and serve. It has wonderful flavour and is fairly easy for an exotic dish! It was first prepared and served to me by my partner Steve during our early years dating. (One of the many reasons I fell for him:)

I've used it for over 10 years and each time I add a little different flair to it - perhaps some Habañero chilies and/or chopped kaffir lime. These are sensible deviations and only enhance the dish over time.

Ingredients:

750g (1.5lb) stewing steak cut in 5cm (2in) squares

2 large onions

5 large cloves garlic

2 tsp chopped fresh ginger

1 tsp ground turmeric

1 tsp chilli powder (mild or xxx)

3 tablespoons mustard or olive oil

¼ tsp ground black pepper

2 tender stems lemon grass, finely sliced, or 4 strips lemon rind

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

1 cup (8 fl oz) hot water

1.5 tsp salt

Garnish:

2 large onions, finely sliced and fried until crisp & brown (OPTIONAL)

4 large stalks of fresh cut cilantro and one green onion (OPTIONAL)

Procedure:

Typically the onion, garlic and ginger are termed "basic ingredients". These are put through a food processor and puréed. The turmeric and chili are added to this purée and this whole mixture is sautéed in hot (almost smoking) oil for at least 15 minutes; the goal being to remove most of the water from the mixture without allowing it to becoming too sticky. You essentially want the oil to return.

Deviation is not a sin, I have done the puréed and non-puréed versions and I find it doesn't affect the flavour too much either way. Texture-wise there is a slight difference. Experiment for yourself. I choose the easy, non-purée, sauté of basic ingredients (minus chili):

Keep in mind though that chili, when sauteed along with the onions, garlic & ginger, will emanate it's burning sensation not only through your mucosal membranes but also to those in your immediate living space. Don't be surprised to find members of your household coughing or sneezing. Depending on what chili species you use -the experience might be damned near uncomfortable or painful. I add any chili or other pepper flakes with the meat (much more tolerable).

Going back to the sautéeing the basic ingredients...when the water has left and the oil has returned, add the meat, black pepper and lemon grass/lemon rind (and habañero). Continue frying and stirring until all the juices from the beef have completely evaporated and meat changes colour.

Note...at this point it might be your last chance to prepare your favorite version of steamed rice (in a rice cooker).

Add hot water & salt, lemon juice - cover and simmer until meat is tender (add more water if necessary).

Remove lid, raise heat and cook rapidly until the meat is oily-dry and well coated with the gravy. Taste to ensure tenderness of meat and salt levels are satisfactory.

Serve with 1.5 scoops of steamed white rice and however much dry curry you desire. Top with green onion, cilantro and fried onion topping mix (or everything minus deep fried onion as I did below):

This can be aliquotted and frozen; it only tastes better the longer it is kept:)

Our first farm crop!

Marasmius oreades -This is the scientific name for the fairy ring mushrooms found on our farm.


There are many rings all over our property.
Fanciers of mushrooms, we were keen to find out if these were edible. When experimenting with wild mushrooms great care must be taken to really know if what you picked isn't poisonous. We researched these mushrooms to identify exactly what species they were. Yet pictures can be subjective and mistakes may still occur. If brave enough - a self experimentation must follow. After identifying the mushroom, we went ahead and picked some mushrooms from a few fairy rings - making sure gills and caps of mushrooms were of same colour and consistency.


We removed the stem of one mushroom and cleaned the gills of the cap:
There are many minute live insects lodged within the gills and I found the best way to coax them out was with running water:
Hmmm...if the bugs were found alive does that count for nonpoisonous? No. We still needed to cook one to see how we react to it.

One mushroom cap was tossed in hot oil, salted and shared between ourselves.


We waited one day to see if either of us felt queasy, out of sorts or hallucinated visions of god-like creatures. Sadly no new gods were discovered and we felt fine.

The experiment worked and fairy rings were our first home-grown crop and designated for morning breakfast. The recipe follows.

Ingredients:
2 leaves fresh sage - chopped
1 sprig thyme
1 tsp chopped fresh oregano
1 clove of diced/crushed garlic
Fairy ring mushrooms - a handful of cleaned caps; stems removed
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt to taste


















Soak, wash and pat dry caps:










If caps are large slice them lengthwise:










Heat one tbsp of oil and fry garlic for 1 minute.









Then throw in diced mushroom caps and saute for 3 minutes or until water starts to come out and mushrooms appear soft:














Throw in fresh herbs and salt:















Serve as a side as I have for breakfast:
The mushrooms did not possess a strong flavour thus the garlic and herbs came through and were a lovely addition. The texture of these mushrooms were soft and smooth. So there! Free, healthy vegetables, growing wild on our farm, organic with no chemical fertilizers, low in calories and more importantly... we lived to tell about it!